There are current reports as to the state of the abandoned territory surrounding the Chernobyl disaster indicating, contrary to expectations, wild animal life has prospered to the extent that people in the villages beyond the forbidden territory can no longer resist their enthusiasm for butchery and are hunting in the area. Others who might be more accommodating to the rise of nature are talking about making the place a protected park.

As fascinated and delighted as I might be in the growth of rational concern for the preservation of the environment that has existed, more or less, in the past several centuries, it seems to me it is becoming obvious that humanity's progress in population growth and technological capability has created a force for radical change which has an inevitability that cannot be restrained or reversed.

The blame might be laid on human stupidity, greed or widespread ignorance or merely the desperation of huge impoverished sections to stay alive. It really is of small consequence where to lay the responsibility since the forces now in operation have little or no response to the necessity for huge changes in the way humans deal with the planet and it looks fairly unlikely to me that these changes will take place.

The revival of wild life in Chernobyl is, to me, an encouraging sign that civilization's disaster may have its positive consequences. So it seems worthwhile to examine what might happen on the other side of the dark looking glass.

Whether it is the consequence of human activity or not there is obvious massive melting of ice throughout the world and I have yet to see projected maps of those land areas remaining and their habitability after the ice has melted. Such a map might have major influence on world land values and could cause all sorts of economic consequences. Hopefully the profound ineptitude and stupidity of the current regime in the USA in dealing with the consequences of the Katrina storm will not be characteristic of future government in the area but the unwillingness of a major portion of the US population to face reality in more than one area does not bode well for the nation.

It bothers me exceedingly that the wonderful wildlife that filled the world over the last century may soon disappear. Lions, elephants, tigers, gorillas, orangutans, whales, and other large aquatic animals and many, many others may become as mythical as dinosaurs and other fabulous creatures featured only in grandfatherly tales to little kids. The annual callous butchery of tens of thousands of baby seals in Canada for Japanese and Chinese markets is typical of mankind's concern for wonderful animals and change seems unlikely.

But aesthetics is the least of the problems. Over ninety percent of large fishes have been exploited to extinction. This has consequences well beyond the immediate food supply as the biological balance of all aquatic life is affected. At present there is a huge increase in the number of inedible jellyfish to replace many of the fish that no longer exist to feed on them. You might dictate to the fishing community that they must ease catching certain fish but if these people are not given an alternate way of making a living it is unlikely they will stop destroying their living base.

Within the last weeks there has been some high concern that honeybees are rapidly disappearing for no understood reason. Aside from the catastrophic loss of food crops for the human economy a huge portion of all plant life depends upon fertilization of flowers to keep going. What happens when the fertilization process no longer occurs?

Although it is apparent that humanity unknowingly has disrupted major planetary forces beyond the homeostatic capability of the globe to recover it is also becoming quite clear that that powerful forces within our current civilization are either too ignorant or too stupid (or probably both) to make the changes necessary to counter the situation.

The intelligent people who are concerned and aware are spending all their time and efforts to stop this inevitable march towards catastrophe and almost nothing towards informing alarmed people as to what the world will look like when our grandchildren will have to deal with the consequences of the actions of current forces.

I am not asking for dramatic alarming scenarios to be used as tools for fighting the idiots in charge. I would merely like to know where my family should move to remain alive.

Nature's ability to adapt and evolve is incredible. Shame it does not apply to the human mind more often.

Sand

2007-03-20 23:12:03

The concept of nature adapting seems to me rather peculiar. Nature is whatever is. A dead Moonscape is just as acceptable to nature as a flourishing jungle. Wiping the Earth clean of life does not daunt nature at all.